Happy Birthday, Ben!

Happy Birthday, Ben!

The Man and the Cult: Benjamin Franklin at 300

His Life

• Born in Boston to Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger, January 6, 1706 (old style)

• Attends school from 1714-16

• 1716: he becomes his father’s assistant in his tallow-chandlery

• 1718: BF is indentured to his brother James(publisher of the New England Courant) as a printing apprentice

His Life-2

• 1722—BF publishes “Silence Dogood Letters” anonymously in his brother’s newspaper (modeled on Cotton Mather’s Essay Upon Doing Good)

• 1723—BF breaks his indenture and “escapes” to Philadelphia; his work for Samuel Keimer (printer)

• 1724—BF sails to London to buy type for printing press with worthless letter of recommendation from Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith

His Life-3

• 1724—BF returns to Phila. and returns to work with Keimer

• 1727—BF founds the Junto Club (which continues until 1765)

• 1728—BF starts printing house with Hugh Meredith• 1729—BF becomes owner and publisher of the

Pennsylvania Gazette; he buys out Meredith in 1730• Circa 1729: he becomes father of son William (see

Autobiography!) out of wedlock; identity of mother unknown

His Life-4

• 1730—BF enters common law marriage with Deborah (Read) Rogers

• 1731—BF founds the Library Company; he sets up printing partners in South Carolina

• 1732—BF first child with Deborah Franklin, Francis Folger Franklin; first edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack published

• 1736—BF becomes clerk of PA assembly and founds the Phila. Fire Company

His Life-5

• 1740s—BF designs and advertises the “Pennsylvania fireplace” (aka Franklin stove)

• 1743—BF founds the American Philosophical Society• 1745—his friend Peter Collinson in London sends BF a

glass tube and descriptions of electrical experiments in Germany; BF begins his electrical experiments

• 1747—BF organizes a “Voluntary Association” (militia) for the defense of Pennsylvania from French and Spanish privateers

• 1749—BF and others organize the Philadelphia Academy (later the University of Pennsylvania)

His Life-6

• 1750—Franklin begins having problems with gout; describes lightening rod in a letter to Peter Collinson; later that year, BF is severely shocked while electrocuting a turkey

• 1751—BF and others found Pennsylvania Hospital; BF designs first fire insurance company (becomes member of PA Assembly; til 1764)

• 1752—In June, BF conducts his famous kite flying experiments, proving that lightening is electrical

• 1753—BF appointed deputy postmaster general for North America

His Life-7

• 1754—with rising fears of an attack on PA during French and Indian War, Franklin becomes more active in politics; publishes what is considered the first American political cartoon, “Join or Die:” (supporting the “Albany Plan”

His Life-8

• 1757—BF appointed agent for the PA Assembly and begins long struggle with the Penn Family (PA proprietors); he later wanted to turn PA in to a Crown Colony under direct supervision of the English king

• BF goes to England as PA agent, where he remains until 1762

• 1764—BF defeated in election for PA Assembly; vicious attacks on BF

• 1769—BF becomes President of American Philosophical Society

• 1771—BF begins writing the Autobiography• 1772—BF writes first anti-slavery treatise (after having

freed his own slaves)

His Life-9

• 1772—BF beginning anti-British political course• 1774—BF’s wife Deborah dies of a stroke• 1775—BF unsuccessfully trying to reconcile conflict with

the British; he becomes a delegate to the Second Continental Congress

• 1776—BF’s son William (former governor of New Jersey) imprisoned as loyalist; BF refusing to intercede for him; BF travels to France to negotiate for an alliance with the colonies in Revolutionary War

• 1783—With John Adams and John Jay, BF signs Treaty of Paris, which formally ends the Revolutionary War

• 1785—BF returns to Philadelphia; greeted with great celebration

His Life-10

• 1785—BF becomes president of the Supreme Executive Council (of the United States)

• 1787—member of the Constitutional Convention• 1789—BF composed and submitted to Congress

the first Congressional protest against slavery• April 17, 1790—BF dies at age 84, and is buried

in Christ Church burial ground (only a few feet from where he first landed in Philadelphia!)

The Autobiography

• Stages of composition:– Part 1: 1771 (in England)– Part 2: 1784 (in France)– Part 3: 1788 (in Pennsylvania)– Part 4: 1789-1790 (in Pennsylvania)

Scope: Ancestry-Birth-Upbringing in Boston-Philadelphia-London-Philadelphia (to circa 1754)

The Ben Franklin “Cult”

• Images of Benjamin Franklin during his lifetime

The March of the Paxton Men, 1764

Charles Nicholas Cochin, “Benjamin Franklin” (1777-1780). American Philosophical Society, Portrait Collection. http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/gallery/

Charles Van Loo, “Benjamin Franklin” (before 1790). American Philosophical

Society, Portrait Collection. http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/gallery/

Charles Willson Peale, after David Martin, “Benjamin Franklin” (1772, after portrait of 1767). American Philosophical Society, Portrait Collection.

http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/gallery/

Circa. 1805. Benjamin

West (American, 1738-1820)Oil on paper on canvas,

13-1/4 x 10"

Anton Hohenstein (ca. 1823-?)Franklin's Reception at the Court of France, 1778.

Philadelphia: John Smith, n.d.Hand-colored lithograph

Prints & Photographs Division (14)

The Ben Franklin “Cult”

• The recent vogue for Franklin biographies (to name but a few…)

– Edmund S. Morgan, Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

– Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.

– Gordon S. Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Penguin, 2004.

– David Waldstreicher, Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004.

– J. A. Leo Lemay, The Life of Benjamin Franklin. Vols. 1 and 2. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.

– Stacy Schiff, A great improvisation: Franklin, France, and the birth of America. New York: Henry Holt, 2005.

The Ben Franklin “Cult”

• The birthday party– The Franklin Tercentenary

• http://www.benfranklin300.org/

- Exhibition: “Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World”

- ATLANTAJuly 4, 2007 –October 14, 2007Atlanta History Center